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The New York Times reported that the Pentagon estimates that, if they get the call to secure Syria’s unconventional weapons stockpile that they’ll need seventy-five thousand to accomplish that task;

The estimated size of the potential effort, provided to the White House by the military’s Central Command and Joint Staff, called into question whether the United States would have the resources to act quickly if it detected the movement of chemical weapons and forced President Obama, as he said in August, to “change my calculus” about inserting American forces into Syria. So far Mr. Obama has avoided direct intervention into the most brutal civil conflict to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings, and the Pentagon assessment was seen as likely to reinforce that reluctance.

The White House on Thursday declined to comment on the Defense Department’s assessment.

The Pentagon has not yet been directed to draft detailed plans of how it could carry out such a mission, according to military officials. There are also contingency plans, officials say, for securing a more limited number of the Syrian chemical weapons depots, requiring fewer troops.

The article goes on to tell how those peaceful Lebanon-based fellows at Hezbollah have set up camps near some of the storage facilities in Syria. Good thing that those Hezbollah boys aren’t a threat to anyone, huh? Apparently they’ve also trained at some of the depots.

Its decision to train fighters close to the major chemical sites, some officials speculate, could be rooted in a bet that their camps will not be bombed if the West believes there is a risk of hitting the stockpiles.

Yeah, that must be it. Or it could be the reason that we need 75,000 troops to secure the weapons. In a world of precision weapons, I don’t think that hiding “near” WMDs is much protection.

“So far Mr. Obama has avoided direct intervention into the most brutal civil conflict to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings, and the Pentagon assessment was seen as likely to reinforce that reluctance.”

Or maybe the tail is wagging the dog. Maybe the Pentagon was told to come up with a high estimated number to justify not going in.

Take that number, 75K, and triple it – that’s the real number of troops you’ll need. We’ll be fighting Syrians, Iranians, possibly the Turks, and most jihadists who can’t afford the flights to Mexico City or Karachi.

Take that number, 75K, and triple it – and then multiply by $1Bn and that’s the cost to the US of A over the next 3.5 years to occupy Syria, parts of Lebanon, and at least the Sinai.

The cost of this new war will provide the excuse to slash retired pay, benefits, and further erode military readiness (rest, refit, and retrain).

@20 – I see no need to send in troops and get into a ground war, if we have tactical weapons that can do the job instead.

and

@21 – They’ve most likely been shifted from one place to another since Saddam Hussein shipped them off to Syria and other places before he went down a bolthole that had no exit.

I do remember the partialy constructed missile launcher that Gerald Bull had built for Saddam Hussein, because it was shown on CNN live when it was found during the Gulf War. It was specifically aimed at Israel, at Jerusalem, in fact, and was designed to launch long-range missiles with large payloads.
That may have been 20-some years ago, but it was something that could not be moved around. It was a lot like the launch ramps for the Nazi’s buzzbombs back in WWII. The missiles it was supposed to launch were missing, although there were bits and pieces of hardware lying around that were designed to ready those missiles for launching.

That missile launcher was the reason that Gerald Bull was assassinated on his own doorstep.

@14. Why you enlisted I do not know but having you and yours risking life and limb for an escape strategy, advanced by political correctness and posturing, is not something I can support. I am sick to death of our military and their families suffering deployment after deployment with nothing but a prospect of withdrawl to look forward to. If someone recently has released a plan to actively seek and destroy our identified enemies in force and in earnest, I missed it. The Benghazi debacle strikes me as the perfect microcosm of the entire sordid situation. And the prospect of more American boots anywhere in the ME sickens me all the more. And as for our enemies being in Michigan, they are all ready there and elsewhere in this country. I wish you and yours nothing but the very best.

My thoughts exactly. I’m with the others, “Death from Afar”. Give ‘em a “High” & tight. As expensive as the missiles, rockets & bombs are, they’re still cheaper then 200K+ troops over a 3+ year span, chasing around in a hostile country with hands-tied-behind-your-back ROE’s.
And if you think that the WMDs got moved before you took out the one target, then take out the next target. Lather, rinse, repeat.

To those of you that may have a Bible laying around the house. I would urge you to take a look at Isaiah ch17 and what it says about Damascus.
Also look at Psalm 83 for what may be developing right now.

I want to throw this thought out because I do not have time to read the WHOLE thread.

If we ever needed to do something like this it would be next to impossible. When sequestration hits we would need to deploy Airmen and Sailors in stead of soldiers and marines to do the job. This shit is getting a little ridiculous.

I found it particularly interesting that Iraq is threatening to use oil as a wespon against us for siding with Israel over being attacked by Hamas.

My suggestion is that we go back in there, fully loaded with incendiary bombs and set their damn oil wells on fire.

But then, I don’t see things through the distorted lenses in place in WDC. And it would automatically spike the price of oil, and subsequently gasoline, so that means that I would have to impose price limits on both at the commodities markets, which would piss people off at me (and I don’t care), but I’d do it anyway.

There is a historical correlation to an escalation of military threats in the Middle East involving Israel. Keep an eye on what is going on during November 22-27. This dangerous, and very explosive situation may erupt, the closer we get to those dates. And it may involve other areas too, besides the Middle East.

How about tempers flaring out of control in public between Congress and the WH? And bullying and coercion? Why should it take until after the election to set up an inquiry?

And why is the one of the only two allies we have in the Middle East being left to its own devices? (Turkey is the other one.)

Conspiracy theories are everywhere, because this whole affair had been known before the election, but was held off from public disclosure until just after the election. Why? Clinton didn’t resign when he was in a similar position a few years ago, did he? No, he did not.

There is a storm gathering. I can feel it building up. We can weather it if we’re prepared, or otherwise face serious destruction, and I do not mean “storm” in the sense of bad weather. I think you know that, and I think you can feel it, too.

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About thisainthell

We are all military combat veterans and we write primarily from that perspective. Everyone who writes here has a Combat Infantry Badge, a Combat Medic Badge, a Combat Action Badge or a Combat Action Ribbon. We write about issues that matter to combat veterans..read more »